I Cried to Dream Again
by Claireisclaire
Summary: Ariel runs away with her little sister, Miranda, from their abusive father to a safe house in England. When Miranda finds the magical land of Narnia, Ariel must travel there as well to rescue her.
1. Chapter 1

_These first two chapters have emotional abuse and minor physical abuse. I believe that it is important to recognize that these things happen, and it isn't always bruises on the skin. If you have any questions about emotional abuse, I do have knowledge about it, but this is going to be a happy story, I promise :)_

CHAPTER 1

" _Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, sound, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices, that, if I then had waked after long sleep, will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, the clouds methought would open, and show riches ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,_ _I cried to dream again_ _." – William Shakespeare, The Tempest_

There was a blood curtailing scream coming from outside and it was interrupting Ariel's nap time. She stomped down the stairs and threw open the door, her schipperke puppy, Captain, trotting down with her.

"What the hell?" Ariel threw the door open and a small brown haired flash past underneath her arm, she recognized the scent of Miranda's perfume. Beyond the small yard were three boys, older than Ariel, holding rocks in their hands. "Unless you want to eat those, I suggest you put them down and walk away," Ariel starred down through the parts in her messy hair.

"I'd love to see you try, Ojo (princess)," Ariel walked outside, Captain sat down huffing and turning his head to the side. The boys laughed as they watched Ariel, in her sweater and Nike shorts, walk up to them and without stopping punch one boy in the stomach, grabbing the rocks with her other hand. The boy fell on his back and Ariel kneeled on top of him while the other boys started yelling at her in Japanese.

The boy underneath her started crying as she grabbed his jaw and pulled it down, pushing a rock in between his teeth.

"Ariel!" A male voice yelled from the window of the house behind her. Her father, Joji, starred daggers into his daughter's eyes. The sun shined bright, blocking some of his vision, but he could hear the whimpering from the street.

Ariel sighed and got up, pushing the boy more into the ground before spinning and sulking back toward the house.

"If I see you boys around here again, I'll call the cops, understand?" The boys didn't respond to Joji's threat. They simply ran down the street as fast as they could. "Ariel, my office, now," he glared down at his eldest daughter.

Ariel took her time walking up the stairs, tracing her hand over the many scratches in the wooden rail. She knew what he would say, he acted so stern and chill to other people, the ideal father. But inside the walls of their small home, he was much worse.

"You want to make me look bad don't you?" Joji slammed the window shut, making the walls shake.

"No, sir," Ariel said, keeping her eyes on the wall behind him.

"Then you want to bring shame to our family, that must be it."

"No, sir. Those boys have been bulling Miranda ever since she started school," Ariel explained calmly, she could feel eyes on her back and knew that Miranda was in the hallway peaking in.

"I don't care; you must stay out of it. Every time you leave this house whether it is going to school or getting the damn mail, you represent our family in this world. You represent me, and I will not have you going around beating up boys in our front yard," Ariel did not blink when her father got in her face, "do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"You will spend the rest of the day in the Hansha closet," Ariel knew he wanted a reaction out of her; she made sure to take as much satisfaction away from him as possible so she stood tall when she pivoted and walked out of the room. "You're going to act like that?" Joji followed her out of the room, "the whole night then!"

"No, papa, she was just defending me," Miranda said from the wall by the office. She didn't move but her voice was louder than it usually was. "Don't make her go in the Hansha, please."

The Hansha, or thinking, closet, was a tiny closet in the laundry room which had too many repairs to be worth using. It was a hot space where outside air dare not travel. The worst part, was that it locked only from the outside. Miranda had never been inside, but Ariel could call it her second room in the house.

While Miranda pleaded, Ariel had her way down the stairs and into the laundry room, she grabbed two small rolls of bread and stuck them up her sweater sleeves before entering the Hansha.

Not long after did she hear the short click of the lock, "you will not disgrace me ever again."

"I will not disgrace you ever again," she had said the phrase a million times. Nothing ever changed from her trips to the Hansha, if anything it made her resent her father more.

A few seconds more and Ariel felt the door groan with the small added weight of Miranda's back.

"I'm sorry, Ariel," Miranda's soft voice drifted through the rotting wooden door. "Maybe he wouldn't lock you in here if you just kept to yourself."

Ariel slid down the door against her back, she pulled out one roll and rolled it between her hands. "Mir, I cannot wait until I can take you away from this place and show you that there is nothing wrong about standing up for yourself, and especially nothing wrong with standing up for others."

"Papa would find us," Miranda's voice was soft, her mouth hid behind her knees.

"I would make sure he wouldn't. I have a lot of money tucked away, Mir, enough for us to get an apartment and for you to go to a good school, I have a plan," Ariel put her hand to the door. She took a bite of the roll, savoring it, as this would be her dinner and probably breakfast. "I don't want you to grow up timid and scared of everyone; I will stand up for you every day, but you need to learn to stand up for yourself."

Ariel heard Miranda's feet move away from the door. She closed her eyes and thought more of her plan on how to escape their small town. They would have to leave at night, they'd be easily seen and the traffic at the airport was always heavier during the day. If they had a taxi meet them on the other side of the forest they could get to the airport in an hour. The forest was two miles away from their house.

"What are you doing?" Ariel heard Joji yell from his office. "Do you want to end up like her?" Ariel stood up, she prayed that Miranda hadn't tried to steal the steal the key to the Hansha closet. "Do you want to end up a freak?"

"Don't say anything, don't say anything," Ariel whispered. She hadn't meant stand up to their father, Miranda needed practiced before heading straight into the bull ring.

No reply was heard, but the sound of a small body hitting the wall made Ariel want to pull the door knob off. Joji hadn't hit Miranda in almost six months, each time she was able to hide the marks with a long shirt or makeup. Ariel knew this wasn't a safe place for either of them but what could they do? If they told the police they would just separate them into different foster homes or worse, they could end up back with their father if he claims she just fell down the stairs.

Miranda's' cries filled the house and Ariel slammed the Hansha closet door with her left shoulder.

"Don't touch her you son of a bitch!" Ariel yelled from the closet.

"Oh shut up," Joji's slurred voice came marching down the stairs, "I have put up with you for so long-"

"Put up with me?" Ariel pounded her fist into the door so hard she could feel the bruises forming as she spoke. "You're supposed to care for me I'm your daughter."

"NOT MINE!" His voice grew. "If it isn't obvious you are not any part of me, and you got no aspect of your mother other than the color of your eyes. I didn't have to let you stay in my house," he started to chuckle, "I could have …left you in front of a church, or…or kicked you out on the highway…or could have at least got a couple of bucks from some gang members…" he trailed off.

"Then why didn't you?"

"Money, Ariel," she could hear his voice getting closer and closer to the closet, "it is always about the money." She heard his forehead bang into the door so she took her left hand back and punched the wall as hard as she could.

The old wood split, so far that a small crack was made, Ariel could see through the crack. Joji had trotted back, not falling, but definitely disoriented.

Joji rubbed his forehead and left the laundry room, leaving Ariel to pear through the crack with her only light being the small window above the washing machine. The sky had turned a shade of pink and orange; if she were in her room she would be able to watch the sun set. Watching the sun set was her favorite part of the day, it brought her peace, knowing that every day, no matter how bad, always ended.

" _Remember that all worlds draw to an end and that noble death is a treasure which no one is too poor to buy." – C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia_


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

" _This thing of darkness, I acknowledge mine." – William Shakespeare, The Tempest_

Ariel didn't sleep, she made a mental list of all the things Miranda and her needed to leave and she was going to take her away tonight. She'd drop Miranda off at school, Joji would be leaving for his work at around 11:30, that gave her four hours to get everything they needed and leave before he came back home.

The money was a must, that had to be done first. She learned long ago that Joji looked through her room whenever she was in the Hansha closet, meaning every other week.

Once she heard Joji enter the kitchen with a groan she pounded on the door, "let me out," Ariel said, trying her hardest to keep her voice even.

"Why shouldn't I just leave you in there all day?"

"Because Miranda won't be able to hide the marks you gave her yesterday by herself," Joji huffed and walked into the laundry room. He didn't look twice when he swung open the door, immediately pivoting and heading back to the kitchen.

Ariel took a breath of fresh air then closed the Hansha closet behind her, she got the first good look at her left hand, it was swollen and purple and blue circle surrounded the broken blood vessels. She clenched and un-clenched her hand, finding it workable but in pain, she carried on up the stairs to Miranda's room.

"Mir, time to wake up," she knocked softly on the door. Opening it to find Miranda sitting up in bed, multiple books spread out next to her. "You didn't sleep either, huh?"

"I never sleep when you're in the Hansha closet," Miranda ran and tightened her arms around Ariel's waist. "I tried to get the key, I made too much noise," her voice quivered.

"I know, let me see," Ariel knelt down and Miranda pulled down one side of her tank top to show a large bruise on her shoulder blade, she then pointed to a similar mark in front of her ear, dried blood stuck to her hair.

"I hit a corner." This never got easier, seeing marks on her baby sister.

Ariel took her hand in hers, squeezing it lightly, "let's clean you up and get ready for school. It's Thursday, you know what that means?"

"Pizza day!" Miranda said excitedly. Every Thursday her school brought pizza in from the restaurant next door.

"That's right, pizza day. Pizza day is the best day of the week," Ariel helped Miranda jump up to the counter.

"I wish every day was pizza day," Miranda spoke quietly.

"Me too."

After a moment of silence, Ariel started cleaning the wound at her head, "I heard what papa said yesterday. He said you weren't his daughter. Is that true?"

"I've had my suspicions. I look nothing like him and I carry no traits of his."

"Then who is your papa?"

"I don't know and don't care. You'll have to wear a hat today, okay?" Miranda simply nodded and jumped off the counter. Ariel didn't want to tell her the plan, so that her teachers would believe the lie she had thought of the night before to get her out of school. "You should take a jacket, your black one."

"But it's warm outside," Miranda questioned lightly.

"There is a cold front coming in today, you'll thank me later," Ariel lied.

"Bye-bye, Papa," Miranda said as they left the house. Joji said nothing back, Miranda sighed and closed the door behind her.

"Do you have your homework?" Ariel asked as they walked side by side.

"Yes, I did it yesterday at school," Miranda beamed. "It was questions about Charlotte's Web. I remember the story from when we read it last summer so it was a breeze."

At school, Miranda sat down in her seat in the front row by the window. She could see Ariel walk back down the street. She found this weird as her school was in the opposite direction; she told herself that Ariel had forgotten something and had to head back home. Miranda payed attention when her teacher stood up from her desk.

"Good morning class, question of the day is 'if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go'? Let's see," the teacher stood in front of Miranda's desk, "Miranda, if you could go anywhere you wanted, where would you go?"

"Heaven," Miranda said confidently without hesitation, "because then I could be with my mother."

The other kids started to whisper.

"That's…nice," the teacher said trying to calm down the rest of the students. "But all of us here would miss you very much. Alright, everyone pass your homework to the student on your left and we'll go over the answers."

Miranda handed in her homework, she laid her chin on her hands. Ariel had always told her that Heaven was a paradise that only special people were allowed to go to.

Right before the bell was about to ring for lunch the assistant principal along with Ariel burst into the classroom, "Miranda, grab your things and come at once."

Miranda hesitated but then grabbed her backpack from the cubbie and headed out, not looking at the strange stairs from her classmates.

"Ariel?" Miranda eyes filled with tears, her heart speeding up.

"It's father, Mir, he got in a car accident," Ariel held tightly onto her sisters hand.

"You'll be excused from school for the rest of the day. I'll pray for your family," the assistant principle said opening the front door for them. "I can give you a drive if you wish."

"No, thank you," Ariel spoke, "I got us a ride." Ariel pointed to the taxi parked in the front of the school.

Miranda slid into the back of the cab, her tears now dried on her cheeks. "Drive," Ariel said to the driver.

"What happened to papa?" Miranda asked, sliding on her grey jacket.

"Nothing, Mir, we're going to the airport. We're leaving, for good."

Miranda took a second to process the words. Leaving. Never coming back.

"You may not like it, but I promise it will be better-" Ariel was cut off when Miranda hugged her awkwardly around her neck.

"Where is our new home?"

"We're going to be living in this giant mansion in England, it's in the country side so the school ride is going to be a long one, but there will be other families like ours. You'll love it, Mir. It's like a castle."

Miranda laid her head down on Ariel's lap as the cabbie rode them to the airport. For the first time in a long time, Ariel felt hope stirring in her chest.

Little did she know what awaited them at the England Mansion.

" _That world is ended, as if it had never been. Let the race of Adam and Eve take warning." – C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia_


End file.
